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Trump, Defending His Mental Fitness, Says He's A Very Stable Genius; Donald Trump Open To Speaking With Kim Jong-un; Saudi Arabia Arrests 11 Princes Protesting Cuts To Perks; NASA Mourns the Passing of Astronaut John Young; Hollywood Awards Season. Aired 4-5am ET

Aired January 07, 2018 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMEMRCIAL BREAK)

[04:00:12] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. President tout his own intelligence, tells his mental stability, why Donald Trump feels so compelled to call himself a genius.

LINDA KINKADE, CNN ANCHOR: And bitter cold in the U.S. producing long delays and frustrations at one of the world's busiest airport.

HOWELL: And Hollywood's award season, it is upon us, but this year, the Golden Globes will likely strike a much different tone.

KINKADE: Hello and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world, I'm Lynda Kinkade, good to be with you.

HOWELL: Yes, good to be with you as well Lynda. I'm George Howell from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta. Newsroom starts right now.

Around the world good day to you, it's 4:00 a.m. on the U.S. east coast. The U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing back against allegations that he lacks the intelligence and lacks the temperament to lead the United Sates.

KINKADE: Well, also Michael Wolff paints an embarrassing portrait of the President's in the new seller book Fire and Fury. The President quickly denounced the book as phony and full of lies.

HOWELL: But earlier Saturday, Mr. Trump went further in a series of tweets. He argued that his path from businessman to TV star to President qualified him as a, "very stable genius." Here is what he had to say on Saturday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "I went to the best colleges, or college. I went to a -- I had a situation where I was a very excellent student, came out and made billions and billions of dollars, became one of the top business people. Went to television and for 10 years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Well, complaining about the bestseller was not the only thing on the President's agenda on Saturday.

HOWELL: That's true. He is also been meeting with Republican leaders at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, our Boris Sanchez picks it up from there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The President making news on multiple fronts today not only saying that he backs his attorney general just one day after some Congressional Republicans called for a new attorney general but also praised in direct talks between North and South Korea and sending a message to Democrats saying that the legal status of Dreamers, DACA, would not be resolved unless he got funding for his boarder wall. All of that being overshadowed by the President being forced to defend his own mental state, his own mental condition.

He's clearly taking the comments being made by Michael Wolff, the author of Fire and Fury personally Wolff saying that the President has lost it, going as far as to say that a 100% of the people around the President has questioned his fitness for office.

The President fighting back saying that Michael Wolff is a fraud and that what he has done with his book is a disgrace, also refuting the idea that he was interviewed by Michael Wolff for about three hours and as he was asked about his early morning tweets on Saturday, taking a shot at his former Chief Strategist Steve Bannon calling him sloppy Steve. Listen to a word to what the President said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I did a quick interview with him a long time ago having to do with an article but I don't know this man, I guess sloppy Steve brought him into the White House quite a bit and it was one of those things, that's why sloppy Steve is now looking for a job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Now, these questions about the President's mental state aren't exactly new if you recall a few months ago, Steve Bannon reportedly said that there was a 30% chance that President Trump would be removed from office because people around him would invoke the 25th Amendment over questions about his mental state and just last month you had a more than a dozen lawmakers brief by a yield psychiatrist as to his mental condition and mental acuity.

So certainly the conversation isn't something new but we had yet to see that kind of forceful response from the President justifying his position as President.

Boris Sanchez, CNN at the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Boris thanks for the reporting. Now let's bring in Steven Erlanger for context on all of these. Steven, the chief diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times live via Skype from Brussels, always a pleasure to have you here on the show Steven.

Today, it's about President Trump insisting that he is smart, insisting that he is stable. In fact, a quote, very stable genius, as he describes it, all of these clearly in response after the book "Fire and Fury" and what the author Michael Wolff had to say about President Trump, let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WOLFF, AUTHOR, "FIRE AND FURY": And you say he's a moron, an idiot. Actually, there is a competition to sort of get to the bottom line here of who this man is. Let's remember, this man does not read, does not listen. So he is like a pinball, just shooting off the side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:05:11] HOWELL: All right. Steven, so this question, you know, through the tweets that we've seen from the President through him advertising his resume to the world as we just heard a moment ago, does the President, his push back, does it help or hurt him?

STEVEN ERLANGER, CHIEF DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, it's very hard to say. I mean honestly it does seem bizarre that the President of the United States has to defend himself as having gone to a college and having made money in business. The question is what's he defending himself against. Clearly, he has been hurt by this description of him. He feels it's necessary just like that.

But you know the thing about him is very predictable. If you hurt him, he's going to strike back whether he -- it's in his interest or not, and you know, he is very narcissistic and he demands loyalty and he clearly feels that he's been insulted. So immediately insults back.

Now, it does raise questions all over the world about, you know, again, how capable he is of handling the pressures of the most difficult job in the world. But that's not to say he's not smart. He's obviously smart. I mean the man created a business and he took some money from his father and built on it and he's been through lot, so ups and downs. So he - and there's no question that he also reads and listens.

Now, he may read selectively and he may listen selectively but he reads the New York Times everyday and he listens to Fox and CNN everyday. So he listens and people can talk to him but he has this fixed ideas in its head and people say he keeps coming back to them all the time, but you think you convince him let's say on how important NATO is or how NATO is funded but then he will come back at it months later with the same concerns, the same with trade issues, things he's cared about for 30 years.

HOWELL: Well, Steven, you--

ERLANGER: --sign of decline, very hard to say.

HOWELL: OK, we talked about intelligence et cetera, but let's push that question further. Does the President understand, does he question whether his pushback will actually help to sell books in this case and in fact prove the point his portrayal that the author has laid out?

ERLANGER: Well, I don't think he really cares about whether, you know, Michael Wolff is selling books or not. I think he has dealt with Michael Wolff, he's dealt with everyone in New York media circles. And you know, Michael Wolff has often embellished work that has turned out to be essentially true, let's be fair, and this book sounds that it's a lot based on Steve Bannon and different people have different access to brand.

This is a portrait of a President unprepared for office which tracks with all the other reporting that we've done and you've done in the Washington Post and other papers have done.

Now, what gives the spice to the book is the sense of this, you know, internal confusion and the back biting and bits and gossip about, you know, Ivanka and her husband and so on, and that makes it very spicy.

But in the essence of it, it doesn't really change our understanding of Mr. Trump as a President who is still out of place, feels that he has to do it differently and is very responsive to the people who voted for him and to his own sense of pride which has been deeply hurt by this.

HOWELL: It is notable that the author's methods and techniques in some case is questionable but as you point out it takes a portrait that the people are looking at as they buy this book, and certainly there are the tweets, the statements that the President has made that are on the surface for people to decipher for themselves, all of these of course overshadowing the President's agenda moving forward this year.

Some important business ahead, Steven, there is a government shutdown looming this month that the President describes as a good shutdown than can force he believes Democrats to cooperate, and he's also insisting that any support for DACA would have to be tied to funding for a boarder wall keeping in mind the boarder wall that he did tell his supporters at one point Mexico would pay for. But now, it seems taxpayers would pay for.

Given everything that we have seen here that he's been dealing with, does the President have the political capital to move the ball down the football field here and really accomplish his agenda?

[04:10:04] ERLANGER: Well, that's the serious question because the midterms are coming, you know, they are only 10 months away, nearly -- he obviously wants to get stuff done. He has promises to keep but he like to get an infrastructure bill passed. Now every president bargains -- I mean, we love Lynda Johnson (ph) not for Vietnam but because she was such a good political bargainer. So we'll see how will Trump does. I mean, he has a very, very narrow margin now after the latest boost in the south in the Senate.

He spend -- have a very hard time pushing through what he wants and the question is will the Republicans stay along with him for their own benefit. We'll have to see on his tweets. I think he'd made a very important point in fact in doing a story that's coming out today about whether his tweets are taking seriously or not or whether to some degree people think that Trump now is a bit of a paper tiger, someone whose rhetoric is very strong but whose actions (INAUDIBLE) rhetoric, which is another question about credibility too. I mean, how seriously you'd take the words and tweets of the President who doesn't always follow through on those threats.

So those a lot of play for with this presidency and, you know, he will bargain the best he can but I think it's going to be very, very difficult. On the wall, I don't see -- I just can't see it. I mean, if Congress put some money now just to get a bill pass, it can pull it out later.

HOWELL: Steven Erlanger, thank you so much for your time, the perspective and we'll stay in touch with you.

ERLANGER: Thanks George.

KINKADE: Well, Donald Trump says, he would absolutely be open to talk with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, speaking to reporter Saturday. He appeared to take credit for the upcoming meeting between North and South Korea.

HOWELL: Mr. Trump says that he is happy that they're communicating but warms if he will to deal with North Korea he wouldn't badge from his stands on forcing North Korea to give up its nuclear program. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If I weren't involved, they wouldn't be talking about Olympics right now. They'd be doing no talking or it would be much more serious. He knows I'm not messing around. I'm not messing around -- not even a little bit, not even 1%. He understands that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Let's get more perspective on all of this, our Paula Hancocks joins us now live from Seoul. Good to have you with us Paula. We just heard there from the President of the United States, who has appeared to take credit for this meeting that is due to happen between North and South Korea. Does he deserve credit for this meeting? Has there been any reaction to his take on all of this from there?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lynda, there's not been reaction from the South Korean side. I think certainly Seoul is far more concern with making sure that these talks go well on Tuesday, because things have really moved very quickly here. It was just New Year's Day about a week ago that North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un said, he was willing to send the delegation and set that he was willing to talk to the side, to make sure that they could alleviate the tensions.

We have heard some more things from North Korean today, not specifically answering that claim by Mr. Trump but saying that they told that for inter-Korean relations, an internal matter of the Korea Nation dependence on the outside will make matters more complicated.

So a couple of articles they specified that they don't want to external influence on these talks they want to talk to the South Koreans and clearly they're showing once again that they would like to sideline the United States when it come to talking. Lynda.

KINKADE: And of course, Paula, we know the young North Korean leader is believe to be turning 34, his birthday coming just a day before this crucial meeting between the North and South Korea. How significant is this meeting, the first face to face in two years? And what are you learning about what representatives will be there from both sides?

HANCOCKS: Well, we know from the South Korean side it will unification minister and then the representative on the North Korean side, so almost the equivalent of that in North Korean term. So certainly it's very high level, very quickly and we really have seen a remarkably turnarounds from the North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, when he consider what has happened over the pass couple of years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS (voice-over): North Korea's leader turns a year old on Monday. He is young but he is also ambitious and brutal. Kim Jong-un has gone further and faster than his predecessors by accelerating North Korea nuclear missile program. Far-right facing this father Kim Jong-il and his grandfather Il-sung.

In the last year alone North Korea fired 23 rockets during 16 tests. The most recent one in November flew higher and further than any others, an achievement that Kim boosted about during his recent new year's address.

[04:15:07 KIM JONG-UN, NORTH KOREAN LEADER (through translator): The entire United States is within range of our nuclear weapons, and a nuclear button is always on my desk.

HANCOCKS: The rapid advancement of North Korea's missile program has rattled world leaders, most notably, U.S. President Donald Trump.

TRUMP: The United States has great strength and patience. But if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.

HANCOCKS: Kim himself joined in the war of words with the U.S. by calling Trump "a mentally deranged dotard," an insult that sent many people around the world scrambling for a dictionary.

Kim Jong-un is used to operating in the shadows of world approval. The U.N. Security Council recently tightened sanctions on North Korea for its nuclear weapons program. And in 2014, a U.N. commission of inquiry found North Korea's leadership guilty of crimes against humanity, a claim which Pyongyang denies.

Within his own country, Kim is feared and trusts only a select few. He is famous for his tactic of purging senior officials, having hatched a dozen since he took power, including his own uncle. And Kim's half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, was mysteriously murdered in the Kuala Lumpur airport after two women wiped his face with a VX nerve agent. The women have both pleaded not guilty.

Both related in South Korea believe North Korea is to be behind the assassination although North Korea denies it had anything to do with his death. It is unknown how the ruthless leader of a rogue nation marks a birthday and whether or not the official talks with South Korea, which begin the day after, will lead to a year of dialogue or more deadlock.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HANCOCKS: There's also another article earlier today on Rodong Sinmun which is the North Korean newspaper slamming the Trump administration calling it the swollen-headed Trump group saying that they were slamming really the national security strategy that Mr. Trump and I sit the end of last year. So we don't have any direct reaction from North Korea to what Mr. Trump has been saying recently, but they're continuing with that very dismissive tone when it comes to the U.S. government.

KINKADE: All right, Paula Hancocks of course staying across at all in Seoul. Thanks so much. We will talk to you again next hour.

HOWELL: Still ahead here in CNN NEWSROOM, honoring the memory of a man who spent more than four decades bringing Americans closer to outer space. We'll explore the extraordinary life of John Young, an astronaut's astronaut.

KINKADE: And later getting back on schedule at New York's JFK airport, why the winter weather has hit international flies so hard.

HOWELL: You're not happy.

KINKADE: Probably I'm not.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:20:32] KINKADE: Welcome back. Search and rescue operations are underway after an oil tank and a cargo ship collided off the coast of China. It happened about 300 kilometers or 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai. All 32 people on the oil tanker are missing and the vessel is still on fire.

HOWELL: The tanker was traveling to South Korea with 136,000 tons of Iranian oil. Meanwhile, cruise have rescued the 21 people on the cargo ship. It was on its way to Guangdong carrying 64,000 tons of crude.

Saudi Arabian authority says that 11 princes had been arrested for staging a protest at palace in Riyadh. They were reportedly upset that state payments for their water and electric bills were being cutoff. CNN's Gulta Zeus (ph) is following the story live this hour from our bureau in Istanbul, Turkey.

It's good to have you with us Gulta. What more can you tell about us this around of arrests?

GULTA ZEUS (ph), CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, the 11 princes apparently gathered outside of this palace in Riyadh and were protesting against their subsidies to electricity and water bills being cut, as well as demanding compensation for the execution of one of their cousins who was convicted of murder.

Authorities came out and said that they're demands were unlawful and ask them to leave, when the princes refused at that point authorities came in arrested the princes saying that they were disrupting public order and security. This of course we cannot independently verify. This apparently took place on Thursday, but the Saudi Arabia's attorney general came out with the statement last night saying that this is what had to taken place. And all of this of course is coming at an interesting time for Saudi Arabia.

In November, we saw hundreds of royals, businessmen as well as senior government officials arrested in a so-called corruption sweep. And they were put behind bards. Some of them have been released with undisclosed settlements allowing for their freedom.

And it's an interesting time in Saudi Arabia as we see Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman as the driving force behind the lot of social and financial changes in the Kingdom as well as heading this huge corruption sweep that its snared hundreds of, as I said, royals, businessmen, as well as senior government officials. And this really is a very unprecedented time for Saudi Arabia and critic say that what Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is doing is trying to consolidate his power and to basically irradiate any challenger that may put any sort of pressure on the power that he's trying to consolidate, George.

HOWELL: Gulta Zeus (ph) following a story live for us in Istanbul, Turkey. Thanks for the reporting. We'll stay in touch with you on it.

KINKADE: The Italian Coast Guard says it has recovered the bodies of eight migrants in the Libya's coast.

Eighty-four people were rescued when they ran dinghy thing in Saturday in the Mediterranean Sea. It was spotted patrol plane taking part in anti-smuggling operation.

HOWELL: In the meantime, the Nigerian foreign minister says that Nigeria will send thousand of its citizen home from Libya. Many have got in trapped there while trying to get Europe. They often face dire conditions and abused including force labor.

More than 260,000 immigrants from El Salvador could be force to leave the United States soon. Monday is the deadline for the Secretary of Homeland Security to decide on their future.

KINKADE: Well, Immigrants currently have temporary protected status, that allows them stay and work in the U.S. Salvadorians make up the largest group of immigrants covered by the program. All of them have been in the country since at least 2001.

HOWELL: NASA is celebrating the life of one of the most accomplish and well traveled men and its history.

The former Chief Astronaut John Young died on Friday.

KINKADE: He's 87 years old and he spent 835 hours of his remarkable life in space.

Martin Savidge has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tremendous launch from yesterday.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When I came to space life, if anything worried on John Young , you'd never had known.

[04:25:04] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, your heart rate was like, hardly went up at all. But Bob's went up to about 130, on a --

BOB CRIPPEN, FIRST SHUTTLE PILOT: I was excited.

SAVIDGE: This is one Young's last interviews. He and fellow astronaut Bob Crippen sat down with CNN.

Shortly before the space shuttle program ended, he talked about flying with Crippen on that first shuttle flight, Columbia, 1981, 30 years earlier. Was he worried about flying something that never flew before?

JOHN YOUNG, ASTRONAUT: Well, we had ejection seats though. You know, if we didn't -- things went really south, we could jump out.

SAVIDGE: Young was born in California 1930, went to high school in Orlando. Graduated at Georgia Tech, entered the Navy, and ultimately became a test pilot. In 1962, he was chosen as part of the first group of astronauts selected after the Mercury Seven. His name may not be a household one, but many inside the space program believe his accomplishments rival those of Shepard plan and Armstrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His legacy in the American space history really is in some ways more significant Armstrong's. John's career with NASA is over 40 years long and -- I mean he was so important to the entire human space by program.

SAVIDGE: During that time that the only thing John Young didn't fly was in a Mercury capsule. In 1965, he and Gus Grissom flew the first two-man flight onboard Gemini 3.

Let's (INAUDIBLE) again on Gemini 10 and Apollo 10, and then walked on the moon with Charlie Duke in Apollo 16 in 1972. The signature moment, Duke snapped a picture as Young jumped of the ground and saluted the flag.

CHARLIE DUKE, ASTRONAUT: That's a pretty outstanding picture here I tell you.

YOUNG: Am I a little closer? OK, here we go a big one. I hope that you're on the floor.

SAVIDGE: At one point, they talked with ground controls about a program on the drawing board called the space shuttle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like a good time for some good news here, the house staff, the space bucket guest, the 277 to 60 which include the vote to the shuttle.

SAVIDGE: Nine years later he flew the first shuttle.

YOUNG: John Young and Bob Crippen are walking out of the breakfast area now.

SAVIDGE: Over the years, it's always bothered Young that the nation pressed outward faster.

YOUNG: Do you like to see us get on with the big human space exploration of these places around that are near by like the moon and then onto Mars, that would be terrific.

SAVIDGE: Young retired from NASA in 2004, 42 years after the (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was the astronaut's astronaut.

SAVIDGE: Martin Savage, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:22]KINKADE: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. You were seeing CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. With the headlines were following for you this hour. The U.S. President Donald Trump pushing back against allegations that he's not mentally fit to hold office. That unflattering image is detailed in a new book "Fire and Fury". The President fire back on Saturday saying he is "A very stable genius".

KINKADE: President Trump says he is open to direct talks with North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un, however he says that doesn't mean the U, S is softening its position on North Korean denuclearization. Mr. Trump also praised South Korea for working open dialogue with North. The two countries (INAUDIBLE) meet face to face on Tuesday.

HOWELL: Saudi Arabian authorities reportedly arrested 11 Saudi princes Thursday for a sit-in at a palace in Riyadh. An official says they were protesting a decree that block state payments for their water and electric bills. The government says they also wanted compensation of the execution of a cousin.

KINDKADE: Authorities that New York JFK airport hoping to get back on track in the day ahead, we just saw there's a crippled operations with several days, domestic flights are pretty much return to normal, but there are still major delays in international flight.

HOWELL: Nothing worst that being stuck in an airport, just look at this image. Misery. Now we got this image for a man who arrived from Paris on Friday night with his pregnant wife and three-year-old child. They waited 11 hours for their luggage before finally just giving up and they're not alone. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have clothes even to change my clothes, a family of five. So I have three kids with me. Were just -- we have not even been offered hotel, even transportation while we pay for the hotel ourselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know it's difficult, we know it's out of their hands, but after all, there needs to be some practice management.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Awful. I've never seen anything like this. It makes me now want to fight anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: Not fun. Well, even in coming international flights are running behind schedule as we mentioned official say there's been simply not enough gates available to handle all the planes.

HOWELL: CNN Dan Lieberman has more of these delays.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN LIEBERMAN, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing outside JFK airport New York where there's been a lot of delays especially of international flights coming in to the U.S. More than 3,000 flights have been delayed and more than 400 cancellations on Saturday, all in the aftermath of this brutal storm that's hit the eastern seaboard and a lot of this is coming from international flights that have gotten backed up coming in the JFK specifically here in New York.

Now the Port Authority has been trying to assist passengers and communicating with airlines trying to get flights finally in. There's been a lot of passengers who've been going on social media complaining they've been stuck on airplanes, on the Tarmac for hours unable to get off all this is due to a backlog of international flights that have come in.

We spoke with one passenger who is finally able to get off an airplane here in New York, here's what he had to say.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was going to the Bahamas from London and yes, we're suppose to be here for an hour and 50 minutes, and yes, we're stuck in the runway for three hours and then getting our bags for about two hours and now entering the flight will be until probably tomorrow now. We're queuing up for the Delta desk.

LIEBERMAN: What's the airline is telling you here? How as the airline responding?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are on that, they're doing everything they can really is the airport is chaos.

[04:35:05] LIEBERMAN: But that passenger was one of the lucky ones who at least make it in the New York, but a lot of people are still not being able to land, a lot of people are not making it into the U.S. yet. Now the airlines and the airport here say that they recommend that passengers check in with them, check in with the airline before heading to the airport to make sure their flights are still on time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: What a great time to travel is it?

HOWELL: No, no. Our meteorologist Derek Van Dam here to tell us about it, it is bitter cold, these delays, so many in fact passengers, travelers just stuck in a bad spot.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and now I'm concerned about what's happening over the western U.S. because--

KINKADE: Yes.

VAN DAM: --if you recall in late in December we had the Thomas and Creek fires --

HOWELL: Right.

VAN DAM: -- that with the largest wildfires in California history, right? Things dried up there. We had burned mountainsides and now heavy amounts of rain are forecast for southern California and that means landslides and mudslides are going to be a threat going forward. So you can imagine how that's going to impact the Ventura and Santa Barbara County regions.

Here's our latest satellite loop and you can see this just constant stream of moisture that's funneling in to the southern sections of California. It hasn't quite rain just yet but it's coming. That low is really still turning across the Pacific Ocean. We have flash flood watches in effect for the Greater Los Angeles area.

Remember, when you have burned areas that really makes the soil and the steep slope sides of the mountainous and hilly regions in that area, very susceptible to having landslides and mudslides because the soil becomes so loose and so easily broken away from the sides of these slopes, so -- and you add heavy rainfall to that and of course it's just this recipe for disaster.

So the USGS website has actually indicated these burned areas and where the highest likelihood of landslides exists. This is just north of the Los Angeles region. Again, we're talking about Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. You can see they're giving an 80% to 100% probability of landslides across some of the steep north facing slopes. So this is an area of concern that we're going to monitor very closely. We're anticipating two to four inches, maybe locally five inches of rainfall for the southern regions of California that equates to about 100 to 125 millimeters of rain. So yes, interesting scenario setting up for the next three days, something we'll monitor.

Check out these images coming from Boston, brave firefighters battling a five alarm fire overnights. This is in Boston. The area where temperatures right now are negative 18 degrees Celsius or roughly zero degrees Fahrenheit and the water has really frozen to any of the surfaces, the water that they're trying to extinguish the flames with and it even froze on top of their brims, their hats, there is incredible. We have wind chill warnings stretching from Ohio all the way to New England. We have the potential for 37 possible record lows this morning that people step outside.

It is bitterly cold in Chicago. We have set a dubious record of temperatures 12 days straight at 6 degrees Celsius below freezing or colder. Now there is light at the end of the tunnel, temperatures are going to warm up above freezing and that means we get the January thaw, we say goodbye to the arctic air and I think it's going to look a little more pleasant across eastern half of the country. But you know, in order to look too far there's an arctic plunge once again for the Midwest that's--

KINKADE: Let's just say goodbye, goodbye to the arctic.

VAN DAM: I wish we could.

HOWELL: Are you ready to say goodbye to the arctic air, George?

VAN DAM: No, no, I am from Michigan, I want the snow. I want the cold.

KINKADE: (INAUDIBLE) coming up.

VAN DAM: I've got (INAUDIBLE) coming up. I need that cold weather.

KINKADE: We just want the cold to leave Atlanta.

VAN DAM: You're from Australia, that's fine.

KINKADE: Exactly. No, that's OK. Thanks Derek. Still to come in the red carpet is out and comedian Seth Myers is ready to host as Hollywood repairs for its golden night. So who's likely to go home with an award and how much controversy could there be? We'll have some expert just ahead.

HOWELL: Plus, after 23 drawings with no luck, we finally have a power ball winner. No, that winner is not from the CNN Newsroom. How much money is in the jackpot, we'll have a story ahead.

KINKADE: That's why you're back at work.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:42:37] HOWELL: Hollywood's award season kicks off Sunday with the Golden Globes where trophies will be handed out to the very best big end small streets.

KINKADE: And the night is typically a big party but this just show may take on a different time. Isha Sasey has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISHA SASEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was no surprise that Hollywood loved La La Land last year, dripping with all the glimpse and glamour of cinemas golden age.

Nominated for seven awards at the Golden Globes, it won all seven. This year, a different kind of film is topping the list with seven nominations. The Shape of Water is more creature feature than Broadway musical. And while Hollywood has long snubbed horror films at awards season, Guillermo del Torro has reimagined the creature from the black lagoon as a love story.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, later.

SESAY: Another unexpected romance is also up for Best Picture. This one featuring a same-sex couple.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call me by your name and I'll call by mine.

SESAY: Call Me by Your Name, is a coming of age story where a professor's son falls in love with a doctoral student. Also in the running for Best Picture, this foul-mouthed drama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why don't you put that on to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Retired this just -- good start. Why don't you put that on you're good morning Ms. -- wake up broadcast?

SESAY: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, follows the mother's struggle to find her daughter's killer. While many critics praise the film, some people have criticized its handling of racism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are 400,000 men on a speech.

SESAY: And Chris Nolan's World War II epic Dunkirk, is also up for Best Picture. And it's a favorite among many movie critics. Nolan is up for Best Director, as is Stephen Spielberg for the post.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The New York Times with barred, publishing any more classified documents dealing with the Vietnam War.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you to publish, will be the Supreme Court next week -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Meaning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we could all go to prison.

SESAY: The form chronicles The Washington Post, while it was led by its first female publisher portrayed by Meryl Streep, who's nominated for Best Actress in this Role.

To made waves at the last Golden Globes, he using the speech to condemn then President-elect Donald Trump for imitating a disabled reporter.

Just months after Trump's victory, the 2017 awards season was painted with anti-Trump overtures.

[04:45:04] A year later, this season's cast in the shadow of the MeToo movement. With sexual assault allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who's denied the claims and several high profile actors. Some predict expect the MeToo movement could be in the awards show spotlight.

DAVID EDELSTEIN, CHIEF FILM CRITIC, NEW YORK: Every holiday movie season, people ask my least favorite question, who will win the Oscar? I generally say, it's me. But this year, I have a ready answer. Someone not charged with sexual harassment.

SESAY: Isha Sesay, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOWELL: All right. Get ready to check your Powerball numbers, half a billion dollars could be yours. Find out where the winning ticket was sold, just ahead.

KINKADE: Someone in Denmark may have worked in us Friday within expensive hangover. Coming up, estranged father of a stolen million dollar bottle of vodka.

HOWELL: Whoa.

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KINKADE: On Hollywood's awards season kicks off tonight at the Golden Globes, some more on what to suspect. Film critic Richard Fitzwilliams joins me now from London. Good to have you with us as always, Richard.

[04:50:04] RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS, FILM CRITIC: And what we are looking at this evening is a night I think that will be completely unique both extremely exciting in certain film categories and of course memorable for the Time's Up Protest against abuse and harassment of women.

KINKADE: And on that protest, I want to go to a sound bite from the host of tonight's awards, Seth Meyers, just take a look into what he had to say in a promo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, GOLDEN GLOBES HOST: I'm very excited because everyone is going to be there. What's that? Oh, he's not going to be there. Well, that's good. Nobody wants him there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KINKADE: No presence (ph) to getting who he is talking about, as you mentioned, this is Hollywood taking its stand against sexual harassment, and the years it swept under the cover but tonight it will be onboard this way on the red carpet.

FITZWILLIAMS: Absolutely so and what Time's Up following on the MeToo hashtag is doing is urging actors to wear black shirts, urging actresses to dress in black. There will be the pin, the Time's Up pin in solidarity with those who have been harassed and abused and of course we are waiting to speeches with great interest remembering last year Meryl Streep's courageous attack against the dysfunctional and misogynistic President, Oprah Winfrey will be receiving the same achievement award, what will she say and how will she say it.

This indeed will be a ceremony that the world will tune in. As you mentioned, Hollywood has been complacent in this and of course Time's Up has spread the need to tackle those not only in the film industry but in industries throughout the country from farm workers to offices.

KINKADE: Absolutely, throughout the country, throughout the world for that matter. It seems that when it comes to the national awards that this is one of the most wide-open seasons we've had in recent memory, just looking at Best Picture, it doesn't seem to be a frontrunner. There's a lot of buzz about the film The Post starring Meryl Streep, what are the other contenders?

FITZWILLIAMS: The other contenders, in fact I would say it's a three- sided race, you see Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan's brilliant film dealing with evacuation of British troops in May 1940 during the war (INAUDIBLE) that it seems to be losing a bit of momentum although it was told in an absolutely unique way and it will be my tip, but you have the staple water, seven nominations, Guillermo del Toro's exciting and dramatic fantasy movie about the relations between a mute and a sea monster, he also got Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a very powerful movie which I think will get best actress for Frances McDormand and you've also got Call Me by Your Name which is a movie which is a deeply sensuous and touching story of gay love and there are five superb movies, The Post may well have the entrance, the Power of Press Association, it's about the Pentagon Papers and we also wonder, will Gary Oldman pull it up as Churchill in Darkest Hour, and absolutely brilliant performance.

So could Timothee Chalamet age in with Call Me by Your Name, a remarkable young actor could, Frances McDormand win for Three Billboards, a superlative performance. Or could Meryl Streep, Katharine Graham in The Post? Could she win her ninth Globe? She is the favorite.

KINKADE: Ninth Globe indeed, well, we don't know where the U.S. President has watched The Post but we do know that he watched Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman, Friday night with his cabinet in Camp David. We've heard from Hugh Jackman, he says, don't put your money on me. His tip is James Franco, is that yours too?

FITZWILLIAMS: I would say James Franco in The Disaster Artist about the worst film ever made in Hollywood absolutely hilarious movie. I think he will win. I think Saoirse Ronan will win the Lady Bird as best actress of the musical comedy. But I think my tip for Best Picture musical or comedy would be Lady Bird which Greta Gerwig has directed. So coming of age movie and I think it's exquisite and that seems the most likely.

Also, while I would suggest Christopher Plummer in best supporting actor, he replaced Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World. (INAUDIBLE) a film about John Paul Getty and they tried to name his grandson in the 1970s, and Laurie Metcalf seems best supporting actress, also for Lady Bird facing step up position from Allison Janney in I, Tonya about the notorious ice skater.

There are very under good films. As you mentioned, we're not quite sure which one is going to win we think we know, but remember the moonlight picture last, remembering La La Land won seven awards at the Globes and yet luster the Oscars, that's not been happens.

[04:55:19] We're very much (INAUDIBLE) and so it's an exciting evening from so many points of view how Hollywood show solidarity against abuse and against predators and spread that message, and also, will we be correct in our predictions or will we find that as many did the moonlight, there have been surprises in store.

KINKADE: Richard Fitzwilliams, we'll have to leave it there but we will be tuning in tonight and we will speak to you again soon. Thanks so much.

FITZWILLIAMS: Thank you.

HOWELL: All right. So this next story is about a stolen bottle of vodka, not just any bottle of vodka though, this one worth $1.3 million. It's been found empty.

KINKADE: Empty.

HOWELL: All right, so this bottle of Russo-Baltique vodka. It's made with gold and silver, is reported stolen from a bar in Denmark earlier this week, construction workers found the bottle empty but undamaged at a building stared on Friday.

KINKADE: Police say a thief use a key to pen a locked door right above massive vodka collection.

HOWELL: Gosh.

KINKADE: Look at these pictures. Anything vodka is now believed to impact the value of the actual bottle.

HOWELL: You don't mix that vodka, you just-- KINKADE: Drink it straight.

HOWELL: Yes, I think you do.

KINKADE: Someone in the United States can buy a lot of that type of vodka. Someone has one half a billion dollars.

HOWELL: Bottles and bottles and bottles of it in fact.

KINKADE: However, official say a single winning ticket was sold for Saturday's $559 million jackpot and it happened in the State of New Hampshire, a pricing streak of 20 straight drawing without a winner. And it wasn't you that won, I'm afraid.

HOWELL: It wasn't you either, no one in the NEWSROOM.

KINKADE: We're all back here working. Thanks so much for joining us to this edition of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Lynda Kinkade.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell, let's do it again, another hour of CNN NEWSROOM right back after the break.

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